The Owners Manual
Living by the Book Series #1 / January 9, 2000 /
Dr. Marty Baker
www.stevenscreek.net
The importance of proper vehicle maintenance is no secret. Every owner’s manual has a section entitled "Maintaining Your Car," which provides an upkeep schedule designed to assure optimal performance and longevity. Periodically, the oil and air filter should be changed, the tires rotated, the undercarriage lubricated, and various parts routinely replaced. The list goes on and on, and people who want to maintain their cars conscientiously heed such advice.
But maintenance is the key to more than optimal car performance. It’s also essential to optimal human performance. And if a car needs an owner’s manual to define proper maintenance, so do we. Fortunately, we have one - the Bible. This owners manual provides a "Maintenance Law" which tells you how to maintain a level of peak performance in your lives through a wisely designed upkeep schedule.
But the problem is that many people do not take advantage of its direction. The Barna Research group says that 93% of Americans own a Bible, but only 12% read it every day. Only one in seven read it at least once a month.1 Why don’t people read the Bible?
The Reasons People Do Not Read the Bible ...
1. People think the Bible is archaic and out of date.
They say that it may speak to another generation, but here’s a serious question whether it has anything to say to this present generation.
People do not read the Bible because
2. People doubt the Bible’s Credibility.
No other book has stood the test of time like the Bible. Year after years, people have tried to stamp out its message, but its power is still progressing.
The Bible it has been banished in countries; It has been burned; and skeptics have criticized it. But, these skeptics have come and they have gone, but the Word of the Lord still stands forever.
In the 1800’s, Voltaire, the French Atheists said that within a 100 years after his death that the Bible would cease to exist from the face of the earth. The beauty is that the home in which he made that statement is owned by the Geneva Bible Society and they use it as a printing press to send Bibles all over the world.
No matter who stands against it, no matter what is said against it, Karl Marx said that religion is the opiate of the people. The Communist countries banned the proclamation and the reading and the study of His Word. But, now we see Communism fall, but the Word of the Lord still stands in the earth. I believe in the Bible is credible because of the
Historical Accounts, Testimony of Fulfilled Prophecy, Superiority of its teachings, and it has Revolutionized my life
The Reasons People Do Not Read the Bible ...
3. People do not know how to read the Bible.
I am speaking about technique. They do not understand the history, the figurative nature, or the setting of the Bible. Somewhere along the line, they decided to leave the deep study to Ministers.
4. People do not have time.
Where does the Bible fit in your list of priorities? It takes the average reader about 80 hours to read the Bible through. Just think if you read 30 minutes a day, you would complete the entire Bible by June 1st.
I have been through periods of my life where I have been very lacks in my Bible study and at other times I have been very disciplined. For the last five years, I have been very disciplined. The Bible continues to change my life.
This morning I want to share with you several reasons why I believe that the reading the Bible can change your life too.
Why I Study the Bible?
1. Teaches me about God and his plan for my life.
The Bible is God’s written revelation of his will to men. Its central theme is salvation through Jesus Christ. The Bible contains sixty-six books, written by forty authors, covering a period of approximately sixteen hundred years.
The authors were kings and princes, poets and philosophers, prophets and statesmen. Some were learned in all the arts of the times and others were unschooled fishermen. Other books soon are out of date, but this book spans the centuries.
The Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew (with a few short passages in Aramaic). About a hundred years before the Christian Era the entire Old Testament was translated into the Greek language. The New Testament was written in Greek.
The Old Testament begins with God.
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The new Testament begins with Christ.
Matthew 1:1
A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Not only do I learn about God, but I also learn about history.
2. Teaches history.
From Adam to Abraham we have the history of the human race. From Abraham to Christ we have the history of the chosen race. From Christ on we have the history of the church. The Bible has 66 books, but it is one book, one history, one story, his story. Behind ten thousand events stands God, the builder of history, the maker of the ages.
Eternity bounds one side, eternity bounds the other side, and time is in between: Genesis - origins, Revelation - endings, and all the way between. God is working things out.
3. Provides spiritual strength and helps me maintain an emotional balance.
4. Helps me process the voices of the culture.
Teaches me right from wrong. Gives me a moral compass to direct my steps. It gives me truth when the culture cries for relativism.
5. Provides guidance in decision making.
I’ve seen some people who are willing to drive hundreds of miles to listen to someone teach from the Bible, but they are unwilling to walk across the living room floor and pick up the Bible and read it for himself.
If you are searching today, I encourage you to listen to the words of the scripture. These words will lead you to life.
Benefits of the Bible
1. Bible study is essential for spiritual growth.
1 Peter 2:2
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,
Attitude
Appetite
Can’t get enough
2. Bible study is essential to spiritual maturity.
Hebrews 5:11-14
11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.
12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!
13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.
14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Learning disability - "dull of hearing"
The mark of spiritual maturity is not how much you understand, but how much you use.. The opposite of ignorance is not knowledge, but obedience.
3. Bible Study is essential to spiritual effectiveness.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
When Jesus was tempted by the devil in Matthew 4:1-11, He defeated the devil three times by saying "It is written."
Bible study is profitable for
doctrine
rebuke
correction
training in righteousness.
God wants to communicate to you in this new century. He wrote this message in a book.
He asks you to come and study that book for 3 reasons:
It’s essential to growth
It’s essential to maturity
It’s essential for equipping you, training you, so you might be available to accomplish God’s purpose.
Closing:
(Use personal illustration to encourage your hearers to be transformed by the Bible)
You may also want to go into a "lab" session and call people to faith through the "power of the Word". Allow God’s Spirit to direct you as you close. This is a critical time in the service and God wants to use you to make a difference in someone’s life.
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